Music

Raleigh hardcore bands Last Words and Abuse. ready new LPs for To Live a Lie Records

Since debuting in 2005 with a split 7-inch featuring California’s Godstomper and Maryland’s Magrudergrind, To Live A Lie Records—the one-man operation of Raleigh’s Will Butler—has steadily issued solid slabs of grindcore, powerviolence and hardcore from bands across the globe. Of the 91 titles in its catalog, though, only a few are homegrown. Of particular note: Thieves’ 2010 EP Positive Vibrations, Torch Runner’s 2012 album Committed To The Ground and Brian Walsby’s latest Manchild book.

This summer, To Live A Lie’s local-interest catalog will grow with the release of full-length debuts from two young Raleigh bands, each spun from the (still technically unofficial) demise of Stripmines.

The first of these, Last Words’ self-titled LP, is expected this summer. The quartet features Stripmines guitarist Jeff Young, bassist Dave Yarwood (Antibubbles, No Love), drummer Connor Donegan (a recent addition to Double Negative’s lineup, at least until the end of this month) and vocalist Marina Madden. Their 20-minute album lunges through 10 songs, shifting regularly between frenzied sprints and slowed-down stomps true to their Boston hardcore influences. Where the album stands out, though, is in Madden’s vicious vocals, which use her throaty, higher-register timbre to tilt the songs toward black metal maleficence.

Abuse., whose full-length will follow the A New Low EP released by Greensboro’s Hygiene Records, skews closer to powerviolence, yielding few songs that pass the one-minute mark. Stripmines bassist Alex Taylor takes vocal duties, barking over a belligerent blast that’s driven, again, by Donegan on drums.

“None of it has been recorded yet, but we have about 20 songs that are finished being written,” Donegan admits. “I don't actually even know how many songs we have now because everyone has songs that they've written that none of us have learned yet because of how busy we all are with other bands, work, and school.”